Mumtaz Shahnawaz

Her maternal grandfather, Sir Muhammad Shafi, was an influential leader from Punjab.

Like her mother, Mumtaz Shahnawaz was drawn into the national movement as a Congress member but slowly shifted her sympathies towards to the Muslim League.

Mumtaz or Tanzee as she was known to her family and friends was greatly influenced by Jinnah.

Mumtaz Shahnawaz died at the age of 35 in a plane crash months after the creation of Pakistan, en route to New York to represent Pakistan at the UN General Assembly, the first woman in Asia to preside over a legislative session.

Upon her death, Shahnawaz left behind a first draft of the novel, which her family published in the edited form 11 years later.